SELF-COMPACTING CONCRETE DEVELOPMENT, APPLICATIONS AND INVESTIGATIONS Masahiro OUCHI Assistant Professor, Dr. Eng.

Kochi University of Technology Tosa-yamada, Kochi, 782-8502 JAPAN m-ouchi@infra.kochi-tech.ac.jp

ABSTRACT Since the development of self-compacting concrete in 1988, the concrete has been used in practical structures in Japan. Investigations have been carried out from the viewpoint of making it a standard concrete. Recommendations and manuals for selfcompacting concrete were also established. Key words: self-compacting concrete, development, application, investigation

1.

DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-COMPACTING CONCRETE

For several years beginning in 1983, the problem of the durability of concrete structures was a major topic of interest in Japan. To make durable concrete structures, sufficient compaction by skilled workers is required. However, the gradual reduction in the number of skilled workers in Japan's construction industry has led to a similar reduction in the quality of construction work. One solution for the achievement of durable concrete structures independent of the quality of construction work is the employment of self-compacting concrete, which can be compacted into every corner of a formwork, purely by means of its own weight and without the need for vibrating compaction. The necessity of this type of concrete was proposed by Okamura in 1986. Studies to develop self-compacting concrete, including a fundamental study on the workability of concrete, were carried out by Ozawa and Maekawa at the University of Tokyo [1]. The prototype of self-compacting concrete was first completed in 1988 using materials already on the market. The prototype performed satisfactorily with regard to drying and hardening shrinkage, heat of hydration, denseness after hardening, and other properties. This concrete was named High Performance Concrete. and was defined as follows at the three stages of concrete: (1) fresh: self-compactable (2) early age: avoidance of initial defects (3) hardened: protection against external factors At almost the same time, High Performance Concrete was defined as a concrete with high durability due to low water-cement ratio by Professor Aitcin. Since then, the term high performance concrete has been used around the world to refer to high durability concrete. Therefore, Okamura has changed the term for the proposed concrete to Self-Compacting High Performance Concrete.

2.

APPLICATIONS OF SELF-COMPACTING CONCRETE

Since the development of the prototype of self-compacting concrete in 1988, the use of selfcompacting concrete in actual structures has gradually increased. The main reasons for the employment of self-compacting concrete can be summarized as follows: (1) to shorten construction period (2) to assure compaction in the structure: especially in confined zones where vibrating compaction is difficult (3) to eliminate noise due to vibration: effective especially at concrete products plants That means the current condition of self-compacting concrete is a special concrete rather than standard concrete. Currently, the percentage of selfcompacting concrete in annual product of readymixed concrete in Japan is around 0.1% (Fig. 1) [2].
~

1,000 m3

300

200

100

1990 91 92 93 94

95 96 97

A typical application example of Self-compacting concrete is the two anchorages of Akashi-Kaikyo (Straits) Bridge opened in April 1998, a suspension bridge with the longest span in the world (1,991 meters) [3] (Fig. 2). The volume of the cast concrete in the two ahchorages amounted to 290,000 m3. A new construction system, which makes full use of the performance of selfcompacting concrete, was introduced for this. The concrete was mixed at the batcher plant beside the site, and was the pumped out of the plant. It was transported 200 meters through pipes to the casting site, where the pipes were Fig. 2 Anchorage 4A of arranged in rows 3 to 5 meters apart. The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge concrete was cast from gate valves located at 5 meter intervals along the pipes. These valves were automatically controlled so that a surface level of the cast concrete could be maintained. In the final analysis, the use of self-compacting concrete shortened the anchorage construction period by 20%, from 2.5 to 2 years. Self-compacting concrete was used for the wall of a large LNG tank belonging to the Osaka Gas Company, whose concrete casting was completed in June 1998 [3]. The volume of the selfcompacting concrete used in the tank amounted to 12,000 m3. The adoption of self-compacting concrete means that (1) the number of lots decreases from 14 to 10, as the height of one lot of concrete casting was increased. (2) the number of concrete workers was reduced from 150 to 50. (3) the construction period of the structure decreased from 22 months to18 months. Self-compacting concrete is often employed in concrete products to eliminate the noise of vibration [3]. This improves the working environment at plants and makes it possible for

Fig. 1 Annual production of SCC in Japan Total production of ready-mixed concrete in 3 Japan in 19997 is 167,6201,000 m

concrete product plants to be located in the urban area. The annual production of concrete products using self-compacting concrete exceeded 200,000 tons in 1996 [2]. 3. INVESTIGATIONS ON SELF-COMPACTING CONCRETE

Various investigations have been carried out in order to make self-compacting concrete a standard one. The items to be solved are summarized as follows: (1) self-compactability testing method (2) mix-design method including evaluation method for materials (3) construction method including acceptance test at jobsite (4) new construction system to make full use of the performance of SCC The investigations were carried out at each university, large construction company and material maker. Committee activities were also carried out. As the result, Architectural Institute of Japan and Japan Society of Civil Engineers established Recommendations for Mix Design and Construction Practice of Highly Fluidity Concrete in 1997 and Recommendation for Construction of Self-Compacting Concrete in 1998 respectively. The national ready-mixed concrete industry association, Japan, established Manual for Manufacturing of Self-Compacting Concrete in 1998 [3]. 3.1 Self-compactability testing method

There are two purposes for self-compactability testing methods. One is to judge whether the concrete is self-compacatable or not, and the other is to evaluate deformability or viscosity for estimating proper mix-proportioning if the concrete does not have sufficient self-compactability. Of the many testing methods proposed for evaluating self-compactability, the U-type test proposed by the Taisei group is, at this stage, the most appropriate (Fig. 3) [4]. In this test, the degree of compactability can be indicated by the height that the concrete reaches after flowing through an obstacle. Concrete with the filling height of over 300 mm can be judged as self-compacting.
center gate

490

after opening center gate

obstacle

concrete
280

height

190 D13 50 mm

Fig. 3 U-type test A modification method for mix-proportion in case of insufficient self-compactability was also proposed, in which flow and funnel tests are used for estimating proper water-powder ratio and superplasticizer dosage by evaluating the deformability and viscosity of mortar in concrete [3]. 3.2 Mix-design method

Self-compactability can be largely affected by the characteristics of materials and the mixproportion. A rational mix-design method for self-compacting concrete using a variety of materials is necessary. Okamura and Ozawa have proposed a simple mix-proportioning system assuming general supply from ready-mixed concrete plants [4]. The coarse and fine aggregate contents are fixed so that self-compactability can be achieved easily by adjusting the waterpowder ratio and superplasticizer dosage only.

3.3

Evaluation method for materials

Investigations on establishing evaluation method of materials, especially powder materials and superplasticizer have been carried out from the viewpoint of establishing a rational mixproportioning method, that is, especially adjusting method for water-powder ratio and superplasticizer dosage, and of developing suitable material for self-compacting concrete. Ouchi et. al proposed evaluation method for the effect of superplasticizer and water independent of each other on the flowability of mortar by using flow and funnel tests [3]. Some general construction companies employ a segregation-inhibiting agent so that the selfcompactablity can be kept constant independent of the variation of unit water content, especially due to the variation of surface water content in the sand. There are various agents proposed and available in Japan. The evaluation method for the effect was also proposed [3]. 3.4 Acceptance test at jobsite

Since the degree of compaction in a structure mainly depends on the self-compactability of concrete and poor self-compactability cannot be compensated by the construction work, selfcompactability must be checked for the whole amount of concrete just before casting at the jobsite. However, conventional testing methods for selfcompactability require sampling and this can be extremely laborious if the self-compactability acceptance test is to be carried out for the whole amount of the concrete. A suitable acceptance test method for self-compactability has been developed by Ouchi et. al [3]:

Fig. 4 Rational acceptance test at jobsite for self-compacting concrete

(1) The testing apparatus is installed between agitator truck and pump at the job site. The whole amount of the concrete is poured into the apparatus. (2) If the concrete flows through the apparatus, the concrete is considered as selfcompactable for the structure. If the concrete is stopped by the apparatus, the concrete is considered as having insufficient self-compactability and mix-proportion has to be adjusted. This apparatus was successfully used at the construction site of the Osaka Gas LNG tank, and saved a considerable amount of acceptance test work (Fig. 4) [3]. 3.5 New structural design and construction systems

By employing self-compacting concrete, the cost of vibrating compaction can be saved and the compaction of the concrete in the structure can be assured. However, the total cost for the construction cannot always be reduced, except in large scale constructions. This is because the conventional construction system is strongly based on the necessity of the vibrating compaction of concrete. Self-compacting concrete can greatly improve construction systems previously based on conventional concrete requiring vibrating compaction. This sort of compaction, which can easily cause segregation, has been an obstacle to the rationalization of construction work. Once this obstacle has been eliminated, concrete construction can be rationalized and a new

construction system, including formwork, reinforcement, support and structural design, can be developed (Fig. 5). One example of this is the so-called sandwich-structure, where concrete is filled into a steel shell. This sort of structure has already been completed in Kobe, which could not have been achieved without the development of self-compacting concrete (Fig. 6)[3].

Self-Compacting Concrete No Vibration

Less Restriction to Design

Resistance to Segregation
Less Restriction to Practice

New Type of Structure

Rational Construction System

Rational Combination of Concrete & Steel

Fig. 5 Rational construction system achieved by making full performance of self-compacting concrete [proposed by Ozawa] 4. CONCLUSIONS

Fig. 6 Application to immersed tunnel in Kobe: sandwich structure

It is considered that the main obstacles for making self-compacting concrete widely used have been solved. The next task in Japan is to distribute the technique for manufacturing and construction of self-compacting concrete rapidly. In addition, new structural design and construction systems making full performance of self-compacting concrete should be introduced. REFERENCES [1] Ozawa K, et. al. Development of high performance concrete based on the durability design of concrete structures: Proceedings of the second East-Asia and Pacific Conference on Structural Engineering and Construction (EASEC-2), Vol. 1, pp. 445-450, January 1989. [2] Kodama, Y. Current condition of self-compacting concrete (written in Japanese), Cement Shimbun, No. 2304, Dec 1997. [3] Ozawa K (editor), et. al. Proceedings of the International Workshop on Self-Compacting Concrete (CD-ROM), Kochi, Japan, March 1999, including state-of-the art report on selfcompactability evaluation, materials & design, construction, manufacturing & concrete products and summary of recommendations & manuals for self-compacting concrete in Japan. Also available from Concrete Engineering Series, No. 30, Japan Society of Civil Engineers, March 1999. http://www.infra.kochi-tech.ac.jp/scc-net/ [4] Hayakawa M, et. al. Development & application of super workable concrete, RILEM International Workshop on Special Concretes: Workability and Mixing, Paisley, 1993. [5] Okamura H, et. al. Mix-design for self-compacting concrete, Concrete Library of JSCE, No. 25, pp.107-120, June 1995.